The Food Bank of the Heartland is expecting it to take years to recover once the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced American's to change plans on day-by-day and sometimes hour-by-hour basis, but the Food Bank for The Heartland tells 6 News that they're focusing on down the road, predicting impacts on families for years to come. “What we find historically, is that food insecurity numbers definitely lag when it comes to an economic recovery. It just takes time for people who have lost jobs to get back up on their feet again,” said Brian Barks, CEO of Food Bank for The Heartland.
He compared it to the lag following the great recession. “It took 10 years for the number of people who were food insecure at the time of the great recession to drop below great recession numbers. So that’s what we believe is likely to happen again,” said Barks.
Looking back even a year ago to the heartland flooding, families across our state are still picking up the pieces. “Our response to the flood, you know, we thought at the time was astronomical, that is nothing compared to what we are dealing with right now,” said Barks.
That alone paints a grim outlook for the years to come. The months since the pandemic started have put the food bank in a tough spot not only keeping up with the food demand but also financially. “We budget somewhere in the vicinity of 70 to $80,000 a month to buy food. But now we’re budgeting moving forward, at least through the end of the year, budgeting somewhere around $620,000 to buy food,” said Barks.
Between March and August, the food bank spent just shy of $5 million on food. On top of those needs, volunteering has dropped off. “We desperately need help within our volunteer center to package the food that we need to increase the distribution,” said Barks.
At this point, they say anything and everything helps. This weekend, The Food Bank for The Heartland got a boost from OPD’s Faith and Blue weekend. Those donations are still being brought in. OPD hopes to make this an annual event.